II.] ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 217 



good and virtuous ends of his life, such as may be in a reasonable sort 

 within his compass to attain. For if these two things be supposed, 

 that a man set before him honest and good ends, and again that he be 

 resolute, constant, and true unto them ; it will follow, that he shall 

 mould himself into all virtue at once. And this is indeed like the 

 work of nature, whereas the other course is like the work of the hand : 

 for as when a carver imkcs an image, he shapes only that part where 

 upon he workcth, as if he be upon the face, that part which shall be 

 the body is but a rude stone still, till such time as he comes to it : but, 

 contrariwise, when nature makes a flower or living creature, she formcth 

 nidimcnts of all the parts at one time : so in obtaining virtue by habit, 

 while a man practiscth temperance, he doth not profit much to forti 

 tude, nor the like ; but when he dcdicattth and applieth himself to 

 good ends, look, what virtue soever the pursuit and passage towards 

 those ends doth commend unto him, he is invested of a precedent dis 

 position to conform himself thereunto. Which state of mind Aristotle 

 doth excellently express himself, that it ought not to be called virtuous, but 

 divine: his words arc these,&quot; Immanitatiautcm consentancum cst,oppo- 

 ncrc cam, quae supra humanitatem cst,heroicam sive divinam virtutem.&quot; 

 And a little after,* Nam ut ferae nequc vitiumneque virtus cst, sic ncque 

 Dei. Sed hie quidcm status altius quiddam virtute cst,ille aliud quiddam 

 a vitio.&quot; And therefore we may see what celsitude of honour Plinius Se- 

 cundus attributed! to Trajan in his funeral oration; where he said, &quot; tli.it 

 men needed make no other prayers to the gods, but that they would con 

 tinue as good lords to them as Trajan had been ;&quot; as if he had not 

 been only an imitation of divine nature, but a pattern of it. But these 

 be heathen and profane passages, having but a shadow of that divine 

 s atc of mind, which religion and the holy faith doth conduct men 

 unto, by imprinting upon their souls charity, which is excellently called 

 the bond of perfection, because it cornprcher.deth and fastcncth all 

 virtues together. And as it is elegantly said by Mcnander, of vain 

 love, which is but a false imitation of divine love, &quot;Amor melior 

 sophista la?vo ad humanam vitam,&quot; that love tcacheth a man to carry 

 himself better than the sophist or preceptor, which he calleth left- 

 handed, because, with all his rules and prcccptions, he cannot form 

 a man so dexterously, nor with that facility, to prize himself, and govern 

 himself, as love can do : so certainly if a man s mind be truly inflamed 

 with charity, it doth work him suddenly into greater perfection than all 

 the doctrine of morality can do, which is but a sophist in comparison 

 of the other. Nay farther, as Xenophon observed truly, that all other 

 affections, though they raise the mind, yet they do it by distorting and 

 uncomcliness of ecstasies or excesses ; but only love doth exalt the 

 mind, and nevertheless at the same instant doth settle and compose 

 it: so in all other excellencies, though they advance nature, yet they 

 are subject to excess. Only charity admittcth no excess ; for so we 

 sec by aspiring to be like God in power the angels transgressed and 

 fell ; &quot;Ascendam, et ero similis Altissimo ;&quot; by aspiring to be like 

 God in knowledge man transgressed and fell ; &quot; Kritis sicut Dii, 

 icientes bonum et malum :&quot; but by aspiring to a similitude of God 



